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Insurers take thousands of flood claims

Eric Johnston

Insurance major Suncorp has so far received around 4500 claims from storms and flooding across Queensland and NSW, while IAG has received more than 2000 claims.

Suncorp, which is also behind brands such as AAMI and GIO, said it expected claims numbers to rise through the week with flood levels across parts of both states yet to peak.

The insurer suggested it had plenty of financial headroom before flood payouts start to crimp earnings. Suncorp said its allowance for large natural hazards in the 2013 financial year was $520 million.

It has so far used just a fraction of this in the six months to end-December with total natural hazard claims running at $147 million.

‘‘Suncorp also has a comprehensive reinsurance program to limit the financial impact of natural hazard events,’’ the insurer said.

Insurance Australia Group has received about 2000 claims related to floods and storms in Queensland and NSW, but says the situation is in its early stages.

IAG, which owns the NRMA Insurance and CGU brands, said it was too soon to estimate the cost from ex-tropical cyclone Oswald.

‘‘It is still early days and our focus in on assisting customers and we have emergency repairs underway,’’ an IAG spokesperson said.

Analysts expect insurance losses to rise into the hundreds of millions of dollars in coming weeks as floods start to peak across Queensland and New South Wales.

But insurance companies have insisted the latest losses are unlikely to trigger a fresh round of premium increases.

Thousands of Queensland properties have been inundated by heavy rain from ex-tropical cyclone Oswald, and thousands more are at risk of rising waters after heavy rain pushed south into NSW.

Commonwealth Bank insurance analyst Ross Cameron said he also did not expect insurance premiums to rise as a result of the floods.

''Insurance companies have capacity to absorb some losses going into this year because the six months to December was a benign period for losses,'' he said. ''It's an ongoing-loss issue and it will play through, but at the moment it's not.''

The Insurance Council of Australia on Sunday declared a catastrophe for large parts of Queensland affected by storms and inundation caused by ex-tropical cyclone Oswald.

Late Monday the Insurance Council said claims from the wild weather had already topped $43 million, and total claimed losses were expected to hit $50 million by mid-week.